Achieving the Global Methane Pledge: Where are we and where do we need to go?

Moderated by Andris Piebalgs from the Florence School of Regulation (FSR), the debate will convene leading experts on methane emissions to review important scientific updates on methane and discuss the priority actions that are critical to achieving the Global Methane Pledge.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for over one-quarter of the climate warming we are experiencing today. The fossil fuel sector is one of the largest sources of human-made methane emissions and is the sector with the greatest potential for cost-effective, readily available emissions reductions. While we have enough information to act towards reducing these emissions today, better data will enable the targeted, ambitious action that is needed to reduce emissions in line with the levels needed to achieve the Paris Agreement, as well as tracking changes in emissions over time as mitigation strategies are implemented.

At COP 26, the US and the EU announced the Global Methane Pledge with over 100 signatories committing to achieve a collective methane emissions reduction of 30% by 2030. As core implementing partners of the Global Methane Pledge, the UN Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) and Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) collaborate to provide countries with the data, information, and support necessary to achieve these targets.

UNEP launched IMEO to improve the global understanding of methane emissions and connect findings to action on transparency, science, and mitigation. IMEO is a data-driven, action-focused initiative that takes an innovative approach to addressing the methane emissions problem by collecting, integrating, and reconciling methane data from different sources, with particular emphasis on measurement-based data. IMEO is creating a public global dataset of empirically verified methane emissions to provide a sound scientific basis for the Pledge.

The CCAC is a voluntary partnership of governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, scientific institutions and civil society organizations committed to improving air quality and protecting the climate through actions to reduce short-lived climate pollutants. Using the science-based findings of IMEO, CCAC supports the development of country profiles, national methane roadmaps, and mitigation plans through its Methane Roadmap Action Programme.

Agenda

Opening remarks:

Christopher Jones | FSR

Latest scientific findings on methane emissions:

Daniel Zavala | Environmental Defense Fund / IMEO

Manfredi Caltagirone | IMEO

Implementing the Global Methane Pledge: How UNEP’s IMEO and CCAC are building capacity to improve science, transparency, and policy:

Giulia Ferrini | IMEO

Martina Otto | CCAC – TBC

Q & A

Closing remarks:

Brendan Devlin | European Commission

Ilaria Conti | FSR

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